This book was soooo good & had so many twists and turns that it will make your head spin. I could not put this book down. JT Ellison delivers yet another delicious novel that you will power through. I highly recommend this book. Fans of Lisa Jewell & Ruth Ware will love this twisted thriller!!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of Her Dark Lies by J.T. Ellison that I read and reviewed.
This book was pretty good. It was full of twist and turns and even though I figured out a good part of it before I finished it I still enjoyed the book.
Her Dark Lies gets four out of five stars from me.

This book was fantastic. I loved it so much! It was perfectly paced and the characters wonderfully drawn out for the reader. I loved the mystery, suspense and thrills in this novel. I was burning through the pages and was fully entertained and engaged. I love these types of books that grab you and allow to to escape your world and hop into the pages of the book! A MUST read for thriller and mystery lovers!

Engrossing. 4.5 Stars!
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This book was written in a different style than what we’re typically used to reading. For one it’s written in first person, which I like. It really allows you to get inside the characters mind.

Second, it seems to start in the middle of the story. We don’t go through the long courting process of this couple. The story drops us in right before they’re getting ready to get married.

The character development is edgy and I really enjoyed that these are not perfect people. Every character has a dark side that we are introduced to as the story develops. The plot is completely out of the ordinary, but reminiscent of old gothic murder mysteries. Ellison brings highly detailed descriptions of the locations which ties into the rising tension.

Another thing that’s unique about the story is the author is certainly not shy about the high body count. LOL! It certainly was growing by the end of the story and that was a little disconcerting. Realistically I kept wondering how they were going to get out from under that, but that is creative license too!

One thing that that would’ve been great was a little bit more detail in the epilogue. The ending seemed a bit rushed and cryptic which did leave me wanting more. Plus, it also brought out the dark side of our characters and their hidden dark edges buried deep in their psyche of which we get a few more glimpses of as the story wraps up.

Unique, addicting, and so captivating along with some twists you don’t expect. Her Dark Lies is one story you’re not sure who is good and who is evil, if there are even sides to choose. Definitely will read this author again. Well done!

Thank you to the publisher for a Netgalley!
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Loved: The constant movement. This plot did not sit still. Something was either going wrong or someone was dying pretty frequently in this book. The old house setting is something I am sucker for, as well as, old Rick families with devious pasts. The protagonist was no lackey which made it nice as well!

Didn’t: the twist was obvious. And deep down I am not sure if it wasn’t supposed to be obvious.

Overall: solid thriller and like plenty of other Ellison books, I was super pumped to get my hands on it!
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The story takes place on a private island that has been in the Compton family for generations. The island is gorgeous and terrifying at the same time. The history is amazing with famous artists having lived there and some of their artwork is on display. Claire, an artist herself, is amazed by this. This island is supposed to be the setting of Claire and Jack’s wedding but things go wrong immediately. The stormy weather plays havoc with the wedding and a skeleton is found just before the couple arrives on the island. This is just the start of the body count.

The book is told from several point of views and if you’ve read my past reviews, you know that I love stories written this way. You are brought deeper into the plot. I had a very hard putting this book down. The description of the setting is so detailed that you can see yourself on the island, in the house, or looking over the sea from the island. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that loves a good thriller and secrets reveled every chapter.

This book appears to have it all: a young artist is about to marry the man of her dreams who is incredibly wealthy. The wedding should be held on the privat island of his family in Italy. But even before they arrive there things begin to get terribly wrong. The body count is rising and everybody has secrets. Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it. Unfortunately the book was underwhelming for me.

I struggled with the story almost immediately. A man gets shot in the brides house but nobody cared. They just swept it under the carpet and got on with their wedding plans. That put me off right from the start. The family is super wealthy and important and somehow it was taken care of this unpleasant event. And it did not any get better for me. There is a lot of repeated describing of the island and the castle the super wealthy family is living in while the thriller elements were sparse. After the guests arrive you would guess that the castle is full of people but our young heroine strolls around getting lost and finding nobody. Who is behind all this is easy to guess. The story is told from different POV. At first a got the impression that it is told only from Claire as a first-person narrator. But then it changed suddenly to somebody else as a third-person narrator. The person who is orchestrating everything has also short chapters and they are also first-person narrator. That irritated me. I also never connected to any of the characters.

This story was a mess and I never got into the story. It is highly unrealistic, too. I do not have a problem in general with that. When the plot is good and the pace is fast I can handle disbelieve. But this book is a slow burner, repetitive and the story is not complex enough to carry the whole book.

This was a twisted book! It takes place on an island in a huge house. It’s stormy, the lights are out and people are turning up dead. It was certainly a page turner! Definitely recommend!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy

There are some fantastic things about this book - The setting is amazing and intriguing, the atmosphere is just the right amount of creepy and mysterious, the characters are eclectic and while not really likable none seem unredeemable. However there are also some flaws. The most prominent thing is the ridiculousness of some of the plot points. The book goes from a dark mystery where we are trying to unravel the truth about a ridiculously wealthy family to... well I'm not actually going to say because spoilers but I will say that some things happen that seem a bit too far fetched. I also didn't love the ending much. There were a couple things I liked about it but I just felt it could have been done better. It did keep me reading though so there is that.

Overall, this book was just okay. There were too many characters killed off so there was not much by way of suspense as to who the killer was. That being said, Ellison is a fantastic writer and I loved the setting, but this just felt old hat to me (The Guest List for one). I will definitely read more by her.

Book: Her Dark Lies
Author: J.T Ellison
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank the publisher, Mira Books, for sending me an ARC.

I am just going to start out by saying that I had a love/hate relationship with this book. I really enjoyed the beginning, but throughout the whole thing, I really felt like something was missing. I read Good Girls Lie last year and really enjoyed it. I think that Her Dark Lies did not have the say touch as Good Girls Lie. This is a pretty solid thriller, but certain elements were highly predictable, which is fine. It was these predictable elements that made me go back and forth between a three star and a four star.

A lot of people are going to think that this is just about a wedding and bad things start to happen. That is not the case. Our main characters are getting married and what not, but the wedding almost serves as kind of a backdrop and not the main thing. This book, to me, is mainly about family and the dynamics that make up that family. Claire is marrying into the wealthy Compton family. However, she isn’t the first wife, but the second one. As she learns, there has been a lot of disappearances and deaths regarding wives. Add in the fact that no one seems to want to talk about them just really drives it all home. Can you say Rebecca vibes? I don’t know if anyone else had these feelings, but I sure did.

As we go through the story, we see to see all of the layers there is to the Compton family. We also discover that Claire has her own dark secrets and has failed to let us, the reader, know what these secrets are. I mean, you can kind of figure out what it is based on the little clues we are given. I love it in thrillers when the narrator leaves out information about their own character. It adds a whole different layer to them. We also have the Compton family who has all of these gag notices and legal documents that Claire has to sign in order for them to keep their own secrets. All of these secrets just make for a great read.

However, after a while, it became clear to me that the author was going to take this story in kind of a cliché way, which is something that I did not like. Once I put together all of the clues and figured out that this was the direction that we were in fact going, I found myself losing some interest in the story and the characters. It was almost like the author was trying to get us to think that we weren’t going to have the predictable ending. I don’t know. It just seemed like the ending could have been done a lot better. It honestly felt like we had all of that build up for nothing. I do think that I would have given this book a five star had the author taken the ending in a completely different route.

I don’t think this is a bad read by any means, but I do wish that certain things had been done differently. I just think that had it not been as predictable as it was, then I would have enjoyed it a lot more. Plus, I really enjoyed Good Girls Lie a lot more.

Anyway, this book comes out on March 9, 2021.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/dkqb92W_h3o

I couldn’t get into this novel at all. The characters were all unlivable to me, the circumstances not realistic.
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc

Claire Hunter is about to marry the man of her dreams at a private villa on an island off of the Italian coast. When a raging storm ensues, the power goes out and a killer is on the loose! What could go wrong?

This book opens very slowly with long descriptions of the Italian picturesque landscape and historical villa. The pace does pick up quite a bit once Jack and Claire arrive at the villa, and from there I was hooked on figuring out the mystery. The story has really good momentum, but ultimately suffers from its overwhelming silliness and predictability. I saw so many ways that this plot could have come together that would have made a more twisty thriller. Overall, the ending was disappointing and had me scratching my head and wondering why the author spent time using any sort of misdirection. I was really rooting for this one, but the premise just didn’t come together in a satisfying way for me.

But oh what a beautiful cover!

3/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Mira/HarperCollins for the ARC of Her Dark Lies by J.T. Ellison in exchange for an honest review.

We meet the lovely Claire who is an artist and reformed “bad girl” who has stolen the heart of a rich bachelor named Jack Compton. They seem like a match made in heaven until they go to Jack’s family island to get married.

Everything goes wrong, the dress is ruined people are murdered and I mean lots of people and someone has risen from the dead!

Clare has many deep dark secrets including her past drug use, an ex boyfriend who went to jail, tattoos that were a choice made in her rebel days and the biggest deepest secret that she killed her father. Despite all of this I found myself rooting for Claire. I wanted everything to work out for her.

Jack I’m not sure if I liked him, if he was just using her for a front to his family’s business or if he really loved her. We don’t get the closure as to if Jack really killed his first wife, but it’s a safe bet he did.

Some aspects got clouded and confusing as well as hard to follow. I found myself having to go back and re read a few parts.

Overall this was just okay and I rate it 3⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dark Lies is a book that will keep the lights on for just more one hour. That becomes two.

A beautiful setting , an island in Italy, so its a closed door mystery to who is trying (quite successfully) to stop the wedding of Jack and Claire.

First there is the dead body in Claire's home in Nashville and things only go down hill from there.

Seems Jack's family home on the island has quite a reputation for people dying young , like his first wife.

Claire has her own secrets she is keeping from everyone but she is determined the wedding will go ahead.

Twists and turns, red herrings all add up to a roller coaster of a read.

I am a big fan of J.T. Ellison who is a great storyteller and this book is no different.

Add Her Dark Lies to near the top of your TBR pile.

Thanks to NetGalley Harelquin Trade Publishing (US and Canada) Mira for page turning adventure in Her Dark Lies.

Who has more secrets - Jack or Claire?

We meet the wealthy, powerful Jack Compton and the artist with a past Claire Hunter a few days before their wedding festivities that are to take place in a beautiful island off the coast of Italy.

The day before had put a damper on their plans…well it did for Claire...because someone broke into her apartment, and the intruder was shot.

Jack was not even bothered by it. He remained his cool, calm self.

When Jack and Claire get to the island, the police are waiting for them. What can be happening now?

What is happening is that they found the body of Jack's first wife who was believed to have drowned.

This news as well as the family’s huge guard dogs and a person she saw but no one else saw spooked Claire.

Just what is going on at this island and with this family?

Should Claire have listened to her friend when she told her a few things she found out about the Comptons?

And....just who is Claire?

HER DARK LIES is filled with so many really good twists and turns, secrets, and characters we need to figure out, you won’t be able to put the book down.

Ms. Ellison skillfully made the tension and interest non-stop in this dark thriller.

Don’t miss this one. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A thank you to Netgalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 rounded up. I'm sorry to say that this one fell short for me. Having so enjoyed the twisty & twisted world of Ellison's previous books, I had high hopes for this one. Sadly it fell flat for me - the dynamic characters and welcomed suprises just aren't there. The premise obviously isn't original, but I did expect the author's signature stamp and they just were there. And, while I some occasionally enjoy a who-done-it where the who is known near the get-go, getting to the climax took an awful lot of meandering without the characters developing along the way. Considering other reviews, it's not NOT enjoyable, but not as enjoyable as to live up to expectation.

When the very wealthy Jack Compton falls in love with Claire Hunter, sparks fly. He has always lived a life of privilege, but Claire an artist, not so much. The wedding won't be held at a venue in Nashville though, they will head to the family villa in Italy, a place full of triumph and tragedy. That is if they can make it out of Nashville alive.
Luckily, Jack and Claire arrive at Isle Isola unscathed physically, but emotionally, well that is another story. Each of them wonders who would want to stop their happily ever after wedding. What, did you hear that? Oh, it's nothing, just skeletons falling out of both of their closets. Jack's family is determined to make their day magical. Too bad someone else, someone close, has other plans.
To say a few weird and unsettling things happened would be an understatement. Turns out, neither Jack nor Claire have lived perfectly upstanding guilt-free lives, so which one of them is the target. Saying much more would give major plot points away. I did figure out early on who wanted to make them miserable, but definitely not the how or the why. While it doesn't end with any sort of cliffhanger, it does leave you wondering what the future holds.
Told from multiple POVs, the puzzle comes together one piece at a time. Another wild and atmospheric read from J.T. Ellison.

It's the wedding of the year. Artist Claire Hunter is set to wed William "Jack" Jackson Compton at his wealthy and famous family's villa in Italy. But before they even leave for the Italian coast, things seem off when an intruder breaks into their apartment. On the island, Claire learns a set of bones have just been unearthed: not the start she'd hoped for her romantic wedding. Then her wedding dress is ruined. The family's cyber network is threatened. A storm looms. It's quickly looking like someone doesn't want Jack and Claire to marry--and they'll go to any lengths to stop them.

"How romantic, how very gothic and creepy, and how very Compton to choose an island in the middle of nowhere surrounded by sea monsters and exhausted birds to call their own."

I love Ellison's books, as she excels at writing a twisted and dark tale that sucks you in from the start. This wasn't my all-time favorite, but it was still an excellent escape, filled with messed up characters and a rich family with so many secrets. Oh the secrets, oh the lies. Told from both Jack and Claire's point of view, along with a mysterious third perspective, you never quite know whom to trust, whom to believe, and what exactly is about to go down.

The Italian villa where Claire and Jack are to marry--where his famous filmmaker grandfather lives--is another character in this thriller. The gothic villa, the foreboding Italian seaside: it's all so atmospheric you feel as if you're there, wandering the dark passageways of the villa or traipsing along in the pouring rain with our terrified/manic/evil characters. Ellison does an excellent job of setting the scene.

I was never sure where this one was going. Claire seems innocent and along for the ride, Jack protective of his lovely, young bride, and the house ominous yet gorgeous. Is everything at face value? Jack's family is wealthy and intimidating and Claire only has a few relatives along for her wedding day. Do they really love each other? Is his wealthy family happy with the marriage? There are plenty of dark moments (not always for the faint of heart), lots of unearthed secrets, and tons of rain. Oh the gloomy Italian rain! A recipe for disaster, I'd say, for Claire and Jack, but a thrilling read for the rest of us.

Though a marriage on a remote private island with plenty of rain and thunder felt a bit cliché for a thriller, I was positive it would still work for me. And it did. Until it didn’t.

When Claire and Jack arrive at the island where they are to be wed, skeletal remains are being recovered from a restoration site. Though this is an ominous welcome to their wedding location, Jack assures Claire that such findings are common due to the island’s history. But this puts Claire on edge, especially since an intruder has just killed in her apartment the day before.

All great, sinister, beginnings. And who’s not ready to meet Jack’s extremely rich socialite family who owns this mansion? Plus, there will only be the closest guests invited. Yes! All on a secluded island. It’s still sounding wonderful.

The intruder and the skeletal remains were just the beginning of Claire’s eye-opening experience. Her wedding dress is ruined, and her introduction to Jack’s grandfather is quite noteworthy. But nothing like the hacking of the Comptons’ private servers, the blackout, and the deaths on the island.

The red herrings show up in number, but in many ways, they begin to muddle an already fading story. By the time I was midway through the book the various POVs start to lessen the mystery and the cardboard characters aren’t able to add to a fading story.

I stuck it out to the end, but it just didn’t keep up at an interest level and pace that I’d hoped for.

What Concerned Me
The story didn’t have the plot to successfully propel it to the end. Much of the mystery could be guessed, yet the believability factor at the conclusion was nil. I don’t mind suspension of disbelief, but this was even too much for me.

The story also concerned me that the wedding preparation, guests, and mystery didn’t blend cohesively. It felt too much like a little bit of this and a little bit of that in the storytelling. And it didn’t help that the guests, and for that matter, most of the characters were very hard to relate to or care about.

What I Liked Best
I’m going to revert back to the setting. The author did a wonderful job of taking me to a remote island in Italy. One where the weather was threatening much of the time and the atmosphere spooky.

I also liked it when the personality of Will shined at one point in the story. I actually felt that he had compassion and he was a character who came to life momentarily.

Though this wasn’t the right book for me, I do feel it will appeal to many. There are twists, it is a fun location, and there is a mystery. So bear in mind that this is just my opinion.

My thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC and the opportunity to post a review of my opinion.